Since opening Bethany Claire Cakes in Narre Warren, Victoria, almost 15 years ago, Bethany Neumann has consistently approached her business with one main goal: to ensure style never exceeds substance.
The seasoned chef has a wealth of experience under her belt. Growing up, Neumann gravitated towards baking, helping her mother and grandma in the kitchen as soon as she was old enough. “It’s creative and hands on and I just found that I had both a love and a knack for it. It honestly seemed like the natural path for me to pursue,” says the chef.
She went on to complete an apprenticeship in commercial cookery at a Sofitel restaurant, where she carried on in the pastry team after her training ended. At just 20, Neumann competed in the Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat Awards, taking out the national prize – an experience she names as a career highlight to this day. “It really cemented that turning my passion for cooking into a career was the right move for me.” Since, she’s worked in an array of commercial settings, from fine dining to banqueting, catering, a la carte dining, and cafes.
Neumann recalls a time before she founded her business, when she staged in a New York molecular gastronomy restaurant. “I remember eating in the restaurant before the stage and they had this dish on the menu that was basically a beef short rib that had been boned, cooked, blended, reconstructed and glazed into a perfect looking short rib on the bone,” says Neumann. “It was hours of work and although an amazing feat of fine detail, it didn’t taste better than just a delicious, perfectly braised short rib.”
“That, and many other similar experiences have stuck with me and I have just always tried to make sure that with whatever I make, its style should never exceed its substance.”
With social media making society ever more visually focussed, the task isn’t always easy, but it’s a path Neumann hasn’t veered from. Many of her desserts are nostalgic pastries that came from her mother’s and grandmother’s recipes. “It’s not uncommon for people who visit me at the markets to bust out a story (and often some tears) about the memories they have connected to something I’ve made. That’s 100 per cent the reaction that keeps me doing what I’m doing,” says Neumann.
While her products are often traditional, she draws on the processes and applications she learnt in restaurants over the years. “It’s not spherified, quenelled, deconstructed or sous vide. But knowing how to do those things gives you options,” says Neumann.
For young chefs just entering the industry, Neumann says the Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat Awards can give them the opportunity to improve skills in ways they might never expect. “It was amazing to be with lots of other apprentices in the same boat as you, it can be a bit of a lonely experience when you’re at the bottom of the kitchen food chain,” says Neumann.
“Competing is challenging and exciting and teaches you so many things from teamwork and time management to thinking on the fly and improvisation. I felt that the structure of the Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat program really celebrated apprentices and gave us a chance to shine.”
Entries are now open for this year’s Golden Chef’s Hat competition. Click here for more information.
